China's Rising Power and Workers Abroad

In a recent story in the NYT titled "China's Export of Labor Faces Scorn" in the Uneasy Engagement series, reporters examined China's policy of filling foreign commercial and industrial ventures with its own workers. In Asia, Africa, and the Middle East (notably in Iraq), state-owned and independent enterprises draw on China's elastic labor pool rather than hiring local workers. Countries that suffer from endemic unemployment feel the sting of this policy and it fosters resentment. Of course, with a labor glut, the Chinese government can insist on employing Chinese laborers and easily deport workers and replace them with little difficulty. It's a resourceful strategy to limit labor unrest that threatens production or, in many cases, extraction. China does not deserve a free pass. Its drive centers on natural resource extraction and neoliberal capitalism, which is no better than previous imperial dalliances.

Historically speaking the treatment of indigenous workers by colonial authorities--or how they were shaped by colonial dictates on labor--facilitated the birth of a vibrant and organized working-class in many parts of the world. That working-class rallied its members to oppose colonialism and laid claim to independence politics in the twentieth century. One can question the effectiveness of working-class resistance to a colonial power if they do not have the advantage of acting within the workplace. In other words, without presence in centers of industry and production, strikes and other forms of protest lose their power in crucial ways. At the dawn of a new empire, it's fascinating to analyze how China approaches the working-class and natural resources in developing countries as it speeds expansion.

(This post was written before I left for holiday travel and I'm publishing it today as part of a blogging blitz.)